HEALTHCARE ESTATES 2023 KEYNOTES
Showing a slide of a circular colour spectrum, the speaker explained that all the ‘negative’ colours – especially greens and yellows – sat in the top right quadrant. “Conversely,” she explained, “the calming colours that make us feel good – such as blues and pinks – sit at the bottom left.”
models of care and moving care closer to home, we have a responsibility to build the right-sized hospital. This includes recognising if a particular hospital might need to be smaller, but that if so, we might then need to provide other facilities locally elsewhere. What we can’t do is build these hospitals on a wing and a prayer; we have to be sure those shifts in care models are going to be realised.” Here Paul Fenton asked a question,
explaining that at a recent Public Accounts Committee meeting, the National Medical Director of NHS England, Professor Steven Powis, had mentioned the experience gained from international learning around COVID, and what had been learned from clinical practices. Paul Fenton’s question was: “Why are we not – or indeed if we are, where is it being demonstrated – learning from estates and building designs from the international sector? We know that TAHPI (an international specialist in health planning, architecture, and technology), for instance, is working across 32 countries doing some massive billion dollar projects in 20 of those, and that the business has international facilities guidance, and a Health Facilities Briefing System. So, when we talk about standardisation in a building design, and everything Hospital 2.0 is trying to deliver, have we taken any of that learning from our international colleagues, and fed that into the New Hospital Programme?” Natalie Forrest said: “Yes – absolutely.
We talk to colleagues across the world on a continuous basis. Australia, Canada, and our Scandinavian colleagues, are doing a lot of hospital building. What’s
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A clear illustration of how colour can support effective wayfinding signage.
key is to understand the different context they’re building in, and feed the learning into the Programme. Expertise is coming from all over the world.” The same speaker was asked when the first outputs of Hospital 2.0 would be seen. Natalie Forrest replied: “We have already issued many of the clinical standards with the Trusts we are working with, but it’ll be late spring 2024 when we have a product we feel has enough components for us to share widely with our NHP schemes. What’s key, though, is to keep testing and learning from the standards we have, and making them better. We work alongside our NHSE colleagues to ensure we’re integrated with all of their thinking, so that if we agree a new standard, we’re all agreed on the approach. We must also ensure that standards are continually updated, although the process does take considerable though and collaboration.” Another delegate asked how the NHP
team was addressing staff wellbeing in the new hospital designs. Natalie Forrest responded: “This is why it has been great presenting with Suzanne, because she’s discussed the human factor. We also learned a huge amount during COVID about the impact of the environment on our staff. So, as well as talking about clinical standards for patients, we’ll be setting new standards for staff.” The last question, for Suzanne
MacCormick, was around elements such as single beds, views of nature, and use of colour. The delegate’s view was that ‘much of this stuff’ – i.e. the elements shown in studies to aid recovery, had been developed by Roger Ulrich ‘20-
we have a responsibility to build the right-sized hospital. This includes recognising if a particular hospital might need to be smaller, but that if so, we might then provide other facilities locally elsewhere Suzanne MacCormick
36 Health Estate Journal January 2024
30 years ago’, and were thus already well established. He asked: “Hospitals everywhere are designing using these principles; do they really need to be brought into the UK – which seems to have been dragged kicking and screaming to single bedrooms – now?”
A ‘lone voice’? Suzanne MacCormick replied: “I guess your question is: ‘Why aren’t we doing all this already?’, and indeed I have the same question. On every project I work on, I will bring in all of the elements I have discussed, but sometimes I feel like a lone voice. My clinical expertise is in psychology, but these things are not just something we’ve created. Psychology has come from study of man, and we’ve created the models through knowing that this is how humans work. So we know all of these things, and need to do embed them into the normal way of doing things. Take colour, and the reason I put it on a spectrum is because it’s really clear the colours that work the best in healthcare settings, so why are we using the others?” She added: “I recently visited a new hospital with an orange reception, yellow walls, and a green Paediatric Department, where even the nurses felt ill. In fact the day the new ED opened, they closed it, because it was yellow and green, and was causing these kinds of problems. I’d also emphasise that as healthcare planners, we’re ‘for life, not just for Christmas’, i.e. we need to be brought in at Stage Zero, and involved all the way through projects.” Here, Paul Fenton thanked both the
session’s speakers, and the audience, adding: “I’d just like to mention the terrific work that IHEEM’s Strategic Estates Management Advisory Panel is doing looking at healthcare planning, and health system planning, and everything that Suzanne was talking about is absolutely crucial. It’s also a plea to you, Natalie, that you allow the work that IHEEM and its members are doing to be very much part of the New Hospital Programme.”
Courtesy of Suzanne MacCormick
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